Bob Whites, Grouse, etc. 



the plumage of this one species grows gradually darker as the 

 birds range northward, until the true sharp-tail has black for its 

 prevailing color. 



Sage Grouse 



{Centrocercus urophasianus) 



Called also: SAGE COCK; COCK OF THE PLAINS 

 (Illustration facing p. 240) 



Length — 20 to ^2 inches; largest of the grouse. 



Male — Upper parts ashy gray barred with brown, black, and 

 darker gray ; some white streaks on wings ; tail of twenty 

 stiff feathers graduated to a threadlike point, the central ones 

 like back, the outer ones black and partly barred with buff; 

 top of head and neck grayish buff. (" Neck susceptible of 

 enormous distention by means of air sacs covered with naked, 

 livid skin, not regularly hemispherical and lateral hke those 

 of the pinnated grouse, but forming a great protuberance in 

 front of irregular contour; surmounted by a fringe of hairlike 

 filaments several inches long, springing from a mass of erect, 

 white feathers; covered below with a solid set of sharp, 

 white, horny feathers like fish scales. The affair ... is 

 constantly changing with the wear of the feathers." — Dr. 

 Elliott Coues). This neck decoration is fully displayed only 

 at the pairing season. Fore neck black speckled with grayish ; 

 breast gray; flanks broadly barred with blackish brown and 

 pale buff, or sometimes mottled with black; underneath 

 black; wing hnings white. 



Female — One-third smaller than male; chin and throat white; no 

 neck decoration ; a softer, shorter tail. 



Range — Sage covered and sterile plains of British Columbia, 

 Assiniboia, the two Dakotas, Nebraska, Colorado, southward 

 to New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada; west to California, 

 Oregon, and Washington. 



Season — Permanent resident, or partly migatory at some points. 



Several pecuHarities make this species noteworthy ; next to 

 the turkey it is the largest game bird in the United States, as it 

 is the largest of the grouse clan, a full grown male weighing 

 often eight pounds, while his smaller mate may be only a Httle 

 over half that weight, the size of sage fowls differing greatly. 

 Another distinction it possesses in being the only one of the gal- 

 linaceous or scratching birds without a gizzard, what answers for 

 one being merely a soft, membraneous bag; hence gravel, prairie 

 rose seeds, and other hard substances are never swallowed. Be- 



285 



